1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automatic bank machinery, and more particularly to a self-contained single-bill dispenser.
2. Prior Art
In many automatic bank machines, only packets of bills are dispensed, totalling $25, $50, etc. Generally, only two different amounts can be dispensed, and the packets which are dispensed must be specially made up and segregated from each other, requiring considerable time and effort.
Efforts to overcome these disadvantages, by providing a mechanism which can dispense single bills, have resulted only in complicated and cumbersome devices. Some require a source of reduced air pressure or vacuum to pick single bills from a stack of bills. The need for a vacuum limits the use of such a unit to installations where a source of reduced air pressure or vacuum is available, or else a vacuum pump must be contained within the unit itself, adding to the complexity, size and expense of the unit.
Another difficulty encountered in previous designs of single-bill dispensers is that brand new bills either cannot be handled by the units at all, because of the tendency of brand new bills to stick together, or the adjustments which must be made to accommodate brand new bills are very delicate. Also, the adjustments are sometimes different for old bills or for brand new bills, and so it is impractical to use mixtures of new bills and old bills. Therefore, these units are generally restricted to operation with bills which have either been specially prepared for use (by crumpling or the like) or bills which have already been in circulation. The special preparation required for the use of new bills involves time and expense which adds to the costs of using the unit, and when only bills previously in circulation can be handled, there can be no possibility of having the bills in numerical sequence by serial number; the total dollar amount of money represented by a stack of bills can be determined only by carefully counting them one by one. This need for counting represents an additional expense in the use of the apparatus.
Previous designs of single-bill dispensers typically use photocells or other photoelectric means for sensing the dispensing of bills. While such devices are able to sense the presence or non-presence of a bill in the dispensing path, they are insensitive to whether one or several bills are being dispensed simultaneously. Accordingly, dispensing errors can occur. Also, the photoelectric apparatus requires frequent maintenance, to keep the optical surfaces clean and free of dust or deposits.
Previous designs of single-bill dispensers have also been hampered by the lack of security involved with the loading, unloading, counting, etc., procedures which are required in their use. Because of the size and bulk of these units, it is necessary for bank employees or security guards to transport a quantity of cash to the unit and load the cash into the unit at the site where the bills are to be dispensed. This operation typically requires the services of groups of people, for security requirements. Typically, two bank employees are required in connection with the handling of cash because of the lack of suitable controls on the loading and unloading of the dispensing unit.
There is a need for apparatus and methods which overcome the disadvantages of the previous designs.